During the late Triassic period, between 250 and 227 million years ago, this herbivorous reptile dominated parts of Wyoming.
Paleontologists have discovered the peculiar fossilized remains of a million-year-old reptile that was distantly related to modern-day crocodiles and birds.
During the late Triassic period, between 250 and 227 million years ago, this herbivorous reptile dominated parts of Wyoming – from where the fossils were found. The newly described species belong to the rhynchosaur group, an extinct herbivorous reptile.
A reptile with a beak-like mouth
The remains were discovered in Wyoming’s Southern Bighorn Mountains from the well-known Triassic geological formation, known as the Popo Agie Formation.
“This is an exciting place to do fieldwork because this geological formation hasn’t really been studied in nearly a century,” said David Lovelace, a UW–Madison vertebrate paleontologist and author on the paper, in an official statement.
A total of five rhynchosaur specimens were found in the exposed rock parts of the formation in the northern Rocky Mountains. Upper and lower jawbones were among the identified fragments belonging to this new species.
After closely inspecting the fragments with a CT scanner, the team found that this squat reptile had a parrot-like beak. Interestingly, unlike the other creatures that roamed the world during this period, it was not a massive beast. The fossil specimen indicates that an adult would have weighed between 11 to 15 pounds (five and seven kilograms) and measured nearly two feet long.
“While the most surface texture and morphological features of specimens described herein have been lost or eroded beyond comparative use, the unique dental morphology of 12 new specimens allows for the referral of all to at least Rhynchosauria,” they wrote in the paper.
The details of the new species have been reported in the journal Diversity.
Species named by tribal people for first time
The newly identified reptile has been named Beesiiwo cooowuse, which means “big lizard from the Alcova area” in the Arapaho tribal language. Since the 17th century, these Native Americans have lived on the plains of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas.
According to the official statement, this is the first time in Western science that a species name has been taken from the language of a tribal (Arapaho) people whose native lands the fossil specimens originated. It was named with the help of tribal elders, the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office, and paleontologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We get this multicultural, multigenerational interaction in the field where elders, FWS students, UW–Madison students, and scientists are all working together to integrate Western science, Native science, and traditional ecological knowledge,” concluded Lovelace.
Source: Interesting Engineering